A small study published last week in the Journal of Psychopharmacology shows that a small amount of alcohol can help people speak a foreign language better. Researchers found that imbibing helped people speak a non-native language more fluently, even when they didn’t think they were doing that well.

Many years ago I took a French test in a state of exhaustion. I didn't think that my mind was working well at all. I expected a terrible score, but I was too tired to worry much about it.

I got the best score I'd ever gotten in that class on that test.

I concluded that (to put it in I'm sure neurologically entirely incorrect terms) the back of my head knew (and probably still knows) more French than the front of my head. Thinking consciously about translating between languages was getting in my way. Exhaustion took that portion of my mind out of gear and let whatever part had actually learned some French get the job done without interference. The right amount of alcohol would probably do something similar.

I have experienced this. I took Spanish all through middle and high school, but that didn't really enable me to carry on a conversation. Working in a restaurant with native speaker co-workers helped with fluency, as did a two- week immersive program in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. The latter was when I discovered that the struggles of my afternoon conversation class melted away after a cerveza or two. I always figured it was a matter of getting out of my head and getting out of my own way so I wouldn't care so much if my grammar wasn't cien porciento correcto porque a nadie le importa, con tal de que puedo comunicar que me gustarria una cerveza mas.

Most people are shy about speaking another language, especially if they are worried they might look dumb due to grammar errors.

A beer or two helps the words flow.

Most language teachers tell their students they need to just speak and not be so hung up on making mistakes. Most listeners are not that concerned with the grammar, they just want to understand the message.

Is this really new? Studying "Business and Legal English" at the University of Edinburgh in the 90's, I remember being told that "according to a study" you speak a foreign language most fluent after two shot of vodka. One shot isn't enough to free your unconsious knowledge and to help you associate freely, and three shots are to much. According too what I've been told, they choose shots of vodka to make the results reproduceable more easily than with beer or wine.

This is all anecdotal, of course, since I never actually read the study.

In related news, I hope this

Quote:

Originally Posted by Die Capacitrix

Most listeners are not that concerned with the grammar, they just want to understand the message.